'You ain't seen nothing yet': Nigel Farage's pledge to take Ukip to Westminister

NIGEL Farage pledged last night to lead the UK Independence Party surge to Westminster and said: “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Ukip won more than 4.3million votes in the European elections[JONATHAN BUCKMASTER]

The Ukip leader celebrated in rumbustious style after his party won more than 4.3 million votes electing 24 MEPs to top the poll in the European elections.

He insisted his party had the “momentum” to cause a major upset in next month’s Parliamentary by-election in Newark.

Mr Farage said: “My dream has become a reality.

"The British people have stood firm, they have backed Ukip and we have won a national election.”

He went on: “This idea that it’s a protest vote…

"It’s beginning to look like a bit of a per­manent protest.

“I promise you one thing – if any of you think that you have seen the high water mark of Ukip, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

He revealed his hit list of Commons seats Ukip will target at the general election in May 2015 in an ambitious attempt to seize the balance of power and force an in?or-out EU referendum.

“Our game is to get this right, our game is to find the right candidates, our game is to target our resources on getting a good number of seats in Westminster.

“And who knows?

"If Ukip do hold the balance of power, then indeed there will be a referendum.”

Mr Farage marked his party’s triumph, winning a 27.4 per cent share of the vote and beating the Tories into third place behind Labour, by unveiling most of the new Ukip MEPs at a news conference in Westminster.

He said they plan to put up general election candidates in Great Grimsby, Boston, Yarmouth, Thanet, Folkestone, Ports­mouth, Plymouth, Aylesbury, Rotherham, Eastleigh and parts of Cambridgeshire.

And this autumn, he promised that Ukip would unveil a new mani­festo of policies at the party’s conference in Doncaster, where Labour leader Ed Miliband is the MP.

Earlier it emerged that Ukip had won an MEP in Scotland, David Coburn, for the first time.

Mr Farage said: “We’ve proved over the past few days that we are genuinely a UK Independence Party.

"We cross all social divides.

"We’ve picked up a lot of old Labour votes, we picked up a serious number of Liberal Democrat votes and one in five of our voters has not voted in 20 years or more.”

We’ve proved over the past few days that we are genuinely a UK Independence Party

Nigel Farage

Ukip had come within a few thousand votes of beating Labour in its heartland in Wales, as well as winning council seats in Northern Ireland for the first time.

He said: “We are genuinely a UK Independence Party and I am proud of that.

"And it is an earthquake in British politics.

"It is a truly remarkable result and it does have profound consequences for the leaders of the other parties.”

Final results showed Ukip gained a massive 11 per cent vote share since the party came second in the last Euro elections five years ago.

Labour came second with 25.4 per cent of the vote and 20 MEPS.

The Tories slumped to third place in a national election for the first time, getting just under 24 per cent of the vote with seven fewer MEPs on 19.

The Lib Dems had a woeful night, coming behind the Green Party and losing all but one of their 11 MEPs.

Mr Farage said he was “personally extremely grateful” to Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg for challenging him to live TV debates about ­Britain’s European Union future.

He said: “Those European debates really kicked off the whole European election campaign and allowed us for the first time in 40 years to put the argument why this country is better off outside the political union.”

He thought Mr Clegg will be forced out as Lib Dem leader.

He said: “I find it very difficult to believe he will lead the Lib Dems into the next ­election.

“As for Mr Miliband, it is difficult to think of somebody who is more out of touch with his own working-class voters.

"I think the calls upon them to offer an EU referendum before the next general election are going to become enormous.

"If he doesn’t offer one, he will become Ukip’s greatest recruiting sergeant.

"So the choice is there for Labour.”

Mr Farage said David Cameron was the “least scathed” of the three main party leaders but suggested that could change at the Newark by-election on June 5.

Ukip candidate Roger Helmer, re-elected as an East ­Midlands MEP, is seeking to overturn a Tory majority of more than 16,000 votes.

Mr Farage said: “The people’s army now marches on Newark.

"We will do everything we can in the next 10 days to help and aid Roger’s candidacy.

"We’re being asked to climb Mount ­Everest.

"After Newark, what we have to do is look ahead to the general election.

"It would be absolutely ridiculous for me to say go home and prepare for government because that ain’t going to happen.”

He said the other main party leaders “all look a little bit like goldfish that have just been tipped out of the bowl on to the floor, desperately gasping for air” following the Ukip victory.